Onwards in Rome

Finishing up with the Forum (and G's minor meltdown) we checked out the Mamertine Prison. It's the prison where the Romans kept their more important, high-profile prisoners, including the apostle Peter. The inmates often drowned in the rising waters of the well/prison before they had the chance for their sentence (decapitation or strangulation) to be carried out. When I saw this 20+ years ago, you walked into a church, down a few steps into a chapel where a monk would show you where St Peter was chained and where supposedly his face left an impression on the wall where he was pushed by a guard. You gave the monk 1-2,000 lire then were on your way. Now it's 5euros each for an hour long, poorly translated tour and multimedia info session. I miss the monk.
Then we climbed up to the Capitoline Hill and I was ready to head inside the (what used to be free) museum to see the colossal head, hand & foot of Constantine (and use the bathroom!) Sorry. That costs now, too.
Which reminded me that the Forum used to be free. And the Colisseum was around 5,000 lire. Um, Rome, if you're gonna charge so much, how's about some bathrooms??
Stopping for lunch made everyone happier. Check out G's face with that calzone! 'How much do I need to eat so I can have a gelato?'
Off to the Pantheon, which is, wait for it...still freeeeee! Which is a darned good thing, cause we were only in there about 15min before they kicked us out for a church service. Glad we got there when we did. Check out the light shining through the occulus. Cool.
A few streets over was the Piazza Navona with its 3 fountains and heaps of artists. Fortunately, no charge there either ;) so we felt like that savings should definitely be spent on gelato.
And a series of gladiator-art for G's room.